Take 5 - Klassikempfehlungen vom 27. Januar 2014
Kremsier, das heutige Kroměříž in Mähren, war im alten Habsburg eine bischöfliche Residenz mit blühendem Musikleben. Die hier aufgelegten Tanzkompositionen rekonstruieren ein Karnevalsfest, für das Biber bei seinem dortigen Aufenthalt die Musik geliefert hat.
FANFARE MAGAZINE, April 2014 - This is a very pleasing disc. If you’ve enjoyed any of the succession of releases of late featuring Schmelzer’s balletti and sonatas, you’ll definitely enjoy this.
La FOLIA, Nov. 2013 - With delicious, lively sound, Karneval is a great (17th century) party album.
Toccata Nr.3/2005 Mai-Juni 2005 - Der Primgeiger spielt zur Musik auf, ohne sich aufzuspielen und kann sich in sein Ensemble einpassen, das mit Charme, Spielfreude, drive tänzerisch-beschwingt bei der Sache ist....
Gunar Letzbor: BIBER Trombet- undt Musicalischer
Taffeldienst...... on PAN
Classical Reviews - Composers & Works
Tuesday, 29 April 2014
If a PR agent had been consulted for a title of this release, they might well have chosen The
Lighter Side of Biber , winceable though it is. The disc’s actual title, Karneval in Kremsier,
reveals little. The composer of so much sacred and serious secular music is heard here in the
kind of light fare very popular at the Austrian Imperial court and those of its satellite nobility.
Biber was one generation later than Johann Schmelzer, who delighted both Emperor
Ferdinand III and his successor, Leopold I, with an endless supply of short dance suites and
sonatas in the very conservative Italian manner of the early 17th century—a time when
Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua brought many musicians with her to Austria following her
marriage into the imperial family. Leopold also shared the tastes of his father, Ferdinand III, for programmatic pieces that depicted with a mix of relish and mockery the folk music of the
territories he ruled.
These preferences are fused on this album, with suites whose abrupt shifts of character
resemble the early sonatas of Ucellini (a known influence on Biber), save for the marked rural
character of the themes, rhythms, and harmonies of many movements. Schmelzer did as
much in some of the 150+ ballet suites of his that survive, but Biber differs in the addition of
occasional short, canonically contrapuntal movements. We might hazard a guess that he
expected his audience to find them (and his expressive, Italian-based arias) humorous in
juxtaposition to the more simple folk-influenced fare of Slovakia, Hungary, etc., that informed
the other movements in these pieces. Lending credence to this view is a learned joke that
occurs at one point, during the ciacona that concludes the Trombet- undt Musicalischer
Taffeldienst à 4 . Following a somberly gracious movement marked “sonatina,” Biber
launches into a gossamer pizzicato of three-part writing, one in truly quicksilver
divisions - only to have it underlaid twice en route by a drunken nightwatchman singing (very
coarsely, as Biber’s audience would expect from rural rubes) a ground in augmentation. (The
identical piece appears again in one of the two balletti recorded here, presumably in error.)
The composer wouldn’t have written these works specifically for Leopold, but the imperial
court tastes permeated the Archbishopric of Salzburg, where Biber became deputy
Kapellmeister at a relatively youthful age in 1679, and Kapellmeister a scant six years later. In
addition, music-loving Leopold was to ennoble Biber in 1690 as Biber von Bibern. While it’s
certainly true the pious and theologically inclined Leopold would have appreciated the
composer’s mystery sonatas and masses, we can only hope he his moody disposition was at
least momentarily lightened by fare like this, with its mixture of charm and dryly erudite wit.
Gunar Letzbor has always been alive to the theatrical implications of the music he’s
performed and recorded. That same sense permeates this disc, which is given a bit of a
programmatic twist with a step-by-step, make-believe carnival feast for the Archbishop
accompanied at each course or change of venue. (Of course, the clock striking midnight has
to terminate the second and more lively of the two balletti , followed by a balletti lamentabili
as the participants leave Carnival for the serious world. It’s not to be taken seriously, but it is
fun.) Letzbor’s sudden shifts in instrumentation from full strings with recorders in the vigorous
dance pieces, to organ accompaniment in the more solemn violin solo movements,
emphasizes the tongue-in-cheek spirit of the album - though the Archbishop is unlikely to
have countenanced such an orchestration in humor that would have been used for more
religiously contemplative music. The strings of the Ars Antiqua Austria in this 1990s release
are less wiry in tone, their attacks less ferocious, than in some more recent releases of theirs
(Mouton’s 10 Concerti à 5 on Challenge Classics 72336, and Graupner’s Overture Suites on
Challenge Classics 72539) without sacrificing any of their precision and phrasing. This is a
very pleasing disc. If you’ve enjoyed any of the succession of releases of late featuring
Schmelzer’s balletti and sonatas, you’ll definitely enjoy this.
Barry Brenesal
La Folia [November 2013.]
Gunar Letzbor’s early Biber
Walt Mundkowsky
As with Charles Rosen’s Goldbergs last month, I’m happy to welcome this Biber program (inessential but lots of fun) back into circulation. (The Swiss Pan Classics label has reissued some Symphonía titles.)
“Karneval in Kremsier.” Heinrich I.F. BIBER: Trombet- undt Musicalischer taffeldienst à 4 (1673); Arien à 4; Harmonia Romana; Balletti (incl. Ciacona from Serenada à 5, “Der Nachtwächter”); Arien à 4; Balletti; Balletti Lamentabili à 4 (1670) (rec. 10/1995). Ars Antiqua Austria, Gunar Letzbor (vln & dir.). Pan Classics PC 10300 (http:// www.panclassics.com). Available from Nov. 25 via MDT (http://www.mdt.co.uk/).
Long ago I bought every recording of Biber’s Rosenkranz-Sonaten that appeared, to spur others into action. Now there are close to 20 and I have three – Eduard Melkus’ 1967 and Reinhard Goebel’s 1990 (both Archiv), and Maya Homburger’s 2007 (Maya). Biber is better established, but this invigorating CD of dance items from his twenties creates the soundtrack for a carnival of the era and can’t hurt. Individual movements are brief (50 zip past in 75:01), and incorporate dizzying contrasts of color, speed and texture. Starting with trumpet fanfares shockingly transferred onto the violin, this sequence features proud melodic contours, the full range of dance forms (from flowing Sarabandes to sprightly Gavottes and Gigues), and stamping peasant rhythms. I’d hate to be without violist / basso Michael Oman’s majestic turn as a tipsy night watchman (Goebel’s version plays it straight). At the stroke of midnight, the celebration shifts to the exhausted gloom of the six-part Balletti Lamentabili.
Ars Antiqua Austria clearly relishes and understands this intricate music – even early on it was core repertoire for them. Gunar Letzbor, their leader, spent time in Goebel’s MAK, and is equally attuned to Biber’s manic high spirits and solemn interludes. With delicious, lively sound, Karneval is a great (17th century) party album.
Letzbor’s investigation of the period continues with Biber’s Fidicinium Sacro-Profanum (1683), underrepresented in the catalog. It hits the US market on January 14 – Challenge Classics CC 72575. See W.A. Grieve-Smith’s Rosenkranz-Sonaten survey and Mike’s Biber review.
Toccata Nr.3/2005 Mai-Juni 2005
Ein deutschböhmischer Musikant, Österreichischer
Komponist?
– Werke -1668--1674 (I)
H.I.F.BIBER Un Carnevale a Kremsier. Ars Antiqua Austria: Gunar Letzbor
(1995; 75:01). Symphonia SY95143
Pssst!... Die Gespräche sind verstummt - wir befinden uns auf einem
Faschingsfest am Hof des Fürstbischofs Karl von Liechtenstein-Castelcorno.
Jetzt fängt die Musik an: Die Solovioline ahmt in der Intrada vom
Trombet- undt musicalischer Taffeldienst sonor und markant die Signale
einer Tromba nach. Ein herrlicher Abend, das Streicherensemble ist vorzüglich
- aber wo ist der Heinrich Biber wieder? Sobald man ihn aus den Augen
lässt, macht er sich aus dem Staub! Da, die Sonatina geht fließend
über in eine Pizzicato-Gavotte ohne Violone, plötzlich kommt
der Nachtwächter - ist das nicht...? - , macht die Runde im Saal
und weist zweimal demonstrativ darauf hin, dass es nicht mehr neune ist,
sondern der Hammer zehne geschlagen hat. Kaum ist er weg, folgen die
Ari-en in A, dann die Harmonia Romana für je drei Violinen, Violen
und Cembalo - das ist eine Suite in sieben Sätzen, die wohl eher
von Vejvanovsky stammen könnte: voller Solo-/tutti-Kontraste mit
einem virtuosen Part für die Solo-Violine im Passaggio, bei der sie
nur von den beiden übri-gen Violinen begleitet wird. In den Balletti
in D kommen beim Satz Aria. Die Werber zusätzlich Drehleier und Schlagwerk
zum Einsatz, dann weist der Nachtwächter wieder mit auffällig
rauher Stimme auf die fortgeschrittene Stunde hin: elf Uhr. Weiter geht's
mit den Arien in h, in der die fast stampfend bzw. schwungvoll musizierte
Aria 1 ma Barbaresca/Aria 2da zwischendurch immer wiederholt wird, auch
spielen sie die Balletti in g. Die Interpretation der Suiten reicht von
"amaresca" bis "barbaresca", von galant-anmutig bis
rustikal-ausgelassen, gelegentlich verleiht eine zusätzliche Flauto
dolce dem einen oder anderen Satz der Suiten eine liebliche Note. Der
Primgeiger spielt zur Musik auf, ohne sich aufzuspielen und kann sich
in sein Ensemble einpassen, das mit Charme, Spielfreude, drive tänzerisch-beschwingt
bei der Sache ist... Bevor noch der letzte Satz zu Ende ist, tönt
plötzlich die Turmuhr mit zwölf Schlägen herein, macht
dem Treiben schlagartig eine Ende: Der Fasching ist schon vorbei? Mit
den Balletti lamentabili, gespielt mit dem gemessenen Ernst und der feinen
Tongebung eines englischen Violenconsorts geht ver-halten-tröstlich
die Platte mit Tanzmusik zu Ende...